DURHAM, NC – SEPTEMBER 21: Aaron Donald #97 of the Pittsburgh Panthers reacts after sacking Brandon Connette #18 of the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Wallace Wade Stadium on September 21, 2013 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

With the NFL draft just 18 days away, it now looks like the Vikings will do one of two things with their No. 8 overall pick: Trade down to accumulate more picks or take the best defensive player available. No quarterback.

The defensive player would be expected to be either a defensive lineman — Aaron Donald from Pittsburgh is a possibility — or free safety Hasean Clinton-Dix from Alabama. Using No. 8 on a defensive player would mean the Vikings would expect that player to start the first game of next season.

There seems virtually no chance that the Vikings will take a quarterback in the first round, although they are expected to draft one to develop in the second or third round.

The value in taking a quarterback, considering what’s expected to be available, simply isn’t there at No. 8. That’s to say there’s no QB who would ensure success, for instance, as with Andrew Luck when he was chosen No. 1 overall by Indianapolis two years ago.

The Vikings have so many defensive needs that they cannot afford to pick a QB. Although QBs Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater all have assets, they also have flaws.

Remember, the Vikings misfired when choosing QB Christian Ponder with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2011 draft. General manager Rick Spielman can’t afford to miss on a quarterback again, especially with a No. 8 pick.

Moving down in the draft would allow the Vikings, who currently have 10 picks, to gain more picks this year and maybe even a first-round pick next year.

At some point in this year’s draft, the Vikings are expected to take a running back who excels at pass protection and would replace departed Toby Gerhart.

Minnesota’s eight-person 2018 Vikings Super Bowl bid team will meet Tuesday in New York with NFL officials to discuss the preliminary bid that was submitted April 1.

Minnesota’s final Super Bowl bid will be delivered to NFL owners on May 7 on iPads provided by Best Buy to support the effort. Owners will receive iPads as part of the package with which to view the bid. The bid will include video, graphics and logistical layouts.

The Minnesota contingent makes its in-person presentation to NFL owners May 20 at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta. Competing with the Vikings for the 2018 Super Bowl are Indianapolis and New Orleans.

The owners’ vote will be May 20. In the meantime, Vikings owners and officials have been regularly buttonholing fellow owners.

The Minnesota bid, by the way, will include the St. Paul Winter Carnival and an Ice Palace. The Mall of America is also involved.

The Twins’ Joe Mauer, a three-time batting champion who is hitting .271 this season, and teammate Jason Kubel, who is hitting .333, both wear contact lenses at bat.

“You get used to them,” Mauer said.

Said Kubel, “My eyes are constantly watering. But if I didn’t wear contacts, I wouldn’t see anything.”

Wild owner Craig Leipold was getting mentioned in Milwaukee as a potential buyer or limited partner in the NBA Bucks, who sold last week for $550 million, but Leipold indicated Saturday there’s nothing to it.

Some tickets held out by the NHL for the Wild-Colorado Game 3 playoff on Monday in St. Paul, as well as Game 4 on Thursday at the X, will be released the day of the games. Regardless, both games will be overflow sellouts.

Look for Rice Park in St. Paul to become home for some of late Charles Schulz‘s Peanuts character statues during major league baseball’s all-star week in July.

A little birdie says new head golf professional at the $12 million renovated Keller course will be Mark Foley, the former pro at Manitou Ridge, succeeding retired Tommy Purcell. Purcell, in fun, said he hoped to land a job as a go-fer for his golf idol, Southview Country Club emeritus pro Frankie Fiorito.

The Timberwolves rank No. 34 among the world’s highest-paying sports teams with a per-player average salary of $4.512 million, according to an ESPN survey. The Twins are No. 66 ($3.39 million), the Wild No. 82 ($2.83 million) and the Vikings No. 115 ($2.32 million).

Twins starter Kyle Gibson, off to a 3-0 start, had a ligament taken out of his left hamstring to replace a torn ligament in his throwing right arm two years ago.

“It’s a pretty good process,” Gibson, 26, said. “Fortunately, there’s a lot of guys having it right now. As long as you go to a good doctor and get a good rehab program going, you’ve got a pretty good chance of coming back.”

Plans are underway for a concert at TCF Bank Stadium in conjunction with baseball’s July 15 All-Star Game at Target Field.

The Twins have a clubhouse treasure in beloved Wayne Hattaway, 74, who has been in organized baseball for 62 years, 50 with the Twins organization, mostly in the minor leagues. Hattaway said he doesn’t know how long he’ll remain in the game.

“I keep saying this could be my last year, but I don’t know,” he said.

The highlight of Hattaway’s fabled baseball career?

“That would be being called to the (major leagues) Twins after I lost my eyesight,” he said. Gardy (manager Ron Gardenhire) brought me up here in 2002. I’ve gotten to be everywhere from (Class) A ball to the big leagues. I do everything they tell me to do — pick up the towels, everything. I’m just a flunky.”

Condolences to the family of dedicated Twins fan Kaye Merila, 70, who recently died from a brain tumor. Kaye’s son Mark, 42, a two-time All-America baseball player for the Gophers and now an astute major league scout for the San Diego Padres, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1994 that curtailed his playing career.

Former Twins manager Tom Kelly will do some pre- and postgame shows for Fox Sports North at Target Field and one series of TV game analysis this season. Kelly also will be busy during all-star week in July, working some fanfest events.

Ex-Twins Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield are among 67 living members of baseball’s Hall of Fame. Former Twins Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat are among Hall of Fame candidates for Golden Era election at baseball’s winter meetings this year. Jack Morris‘ next opportunity is in 2017, when Commissioner Bud Selig also will be on a veterans’ committee ballot.

With 13,500 athletes expected to compete in 18 sports in the Twin Cities in the National Senior Games (50-and-older) in July 2015, an inaugural Minnesota Senior Sports Association that encourages seniors to be active will meet April 29 at Jimmy’s in Vadnais Heights.

Former Gophers All-American halfback Bob McNamara has Eden Prairie football coach Mike Grant speaking at his St. Anthony Club legends luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Gophers men’s golf coach John Carlson, who signed the top player out of Costa Rica a year ago in Jose Mendez, last week received a commitment from the top player in Iceland, Runar Arnorsson. Mendez is expected to be the Big Ten’s freshman of the year.

Carlson received a tip on Arnorsson, who last year shot a record 7-under-par 64 on his home course, from pal Tomas Adalsteinsson, who is golf coach at Macalester College.

“Tomas knows everyone in Iceland,” said Carlson, who also has five Minnesotans on his roster. “Runar is going to be a difference-maker.”

Former Wild players Richard Park and Jim Dowd will make the ceremonial “Let’s Play Hockey” calls for playoff games this week against Colorado at the Xcel Energy Center — Park for Game 3 on Monday and Dowd for Game 4 on Thursday. Both played for the 2002-03 Wild team that defeated the Avs in the first-round playoffs.

The Lynx’s Seimone Augustus of Dynamo Kurst scored a team-high 16 points, but her team lost 89-86 to Nadezhda Orenburg in its first Premier League semifinal playoff game.

It was a “who’s who” of Minnesota sports and entertainment figures who turned out for a surprise 60th birthday party for WCCO-AM’s Dave Lee on Saturday evening at Brackett’s Crossing.

It’ll be a “who’s who” of Minnesota hockey at an appreciation gathering for icon Glen Sonmor, 84, Tuesday evening at Nine Mile Creek senior living in Bloomington. Plans are for Sonmor, whose health hasn’t been the best, to return home to Canada before long.

Ex-Twin Justin Morneau, who turns 33 next month, is hitting .333 with two home runs and eight runs batted in for the Colorado Rockies.

Nice game: Junior catcher Abby Kimlinger blasted three home runs and had seven RBIs in Cretin-Derham Hall’s 8-6 victory over East Ridge last week.

Brooklyn Park native Travis Morin of the Texas Stars has been voted the American Hockey League’s most valuable player. Morin played briefly this season for the Dallas Stars.

Two seasons ago, the Gophers baseball team played 34 games — every one except the final game — in the Metrodome, which is now gone.

The American Basketball Association summer league that this year will replace the Howard Pulley pro-am league will begin June 21 at High Performance Academy in Eagan and continue with two games nightly on Mondays through Thursdays. The ABA will introduce a four-point shot.

The Wild’s Des Moines (Iowa) American Hockey League team had per-game attendance of about 5,900 in its first season since moving from Houston, which averaged about 5,700 the year before. The Wild, who have a much better lease in Iowa than they had in Houston, have been pleased with the switch.

By the way, 84 percent of NHL players this season played in the AHL sometime during their careers.

Ex-Timberwolves assistant Bill Laimbeer, who wanted the Wolves’ head coaching job that Rick Adelman got after the firing of Kurt Rambis, is general manager and coach of the WNBA New York Liberty, who last week acquired Lynx guard Sugar Rodgers.

Minnesota United FC, which plays the Major League Soccer Galaxy in Los Angeles during a preseason trip, has acquired four Brazilian players, one Colombian and one Serbian this year.

Corey Brewer led the Timberwolves in dunks this season with 87. Next was Kevin Martin with 32.

Local author Timothy Bouvine‘s “Catching Lightning Without the Bottle” novel about recovery, redemption and relationships through a Chicago Cubs season is to be released May 8.

Retiring WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod, 67, a former Minnesota-Duluth hockey player and UMD athletics director, plans to continue to reside in Denver.

Hoiberg, the Iowa State coach who recently received a $600,000 salary increase to $2.6 million, has three nationally sought recruits coming to Ames next season — a transfer player, a junior college player and a high school player. Hoiberg, by the way, owns a home on Cross Lake near Brainerd.

Don’t be surprised if the University of Minnesota, which is seeking $190 million to improve athletics facilities, gets 3M, which sponsors the Champions Tour golf tournament in Blaine, to become a corporate partner in a naming rights deal on campus.

Look for Twins closer Glen Perkins to give up his players union representative job midway through this season.

The Tennessee men’s basketball coaching job for which the Gophers’ Richard Pitino is rumored to be a candidate is expected to pay $2.6 million annually. Pitino’s current salary is $1.2 million, but he’s expected to receive an adjustment.

South St. Paul native Phil Housley, who is in the hunt for the Nashville Predators’ head coaching job, leaves May 3 for Minsk, Belarus, as an assistant for the U.S. men’s hockey team that will compete in the world championships May 9-25.

The Timberwolves’ Kevin Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds this season but was the NBA’s worst at defending shots at the rim, cbsSports.com points out. Love allowed his opponents a success rate of .572.

Brett Diamond, son of former Vikings general manager Jeff Diamond, works for the NFL and is among those involved with the Vikings’ bid for the 2018 Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Jeff, 60, is involved in several endeavors in sports consulting in Nashville, Tenn.

Some of major league baseball’s top executives will be in town Friday to check on progress for the July 15 All-Star Game at Target Field.

There is 0.6 percent chance of the Timberwolves, who have the No. 13 pick in June’s NBA draft, getting the No. 1 pick in the lottery on May 20.

The PGA of America, in conjunction with the 2016 Ryder Cup to be played at Hazeltine National, is cautioning local companies to make sure corporate hospitality packages for the Chaska course are legitimate before purchasing.

OVERHEARD

Twins owner Jim Pohlad on Target Field, which opened in 2010: “We don’t want to get to the point of, ‘Well, it’s been 20 years, now we’ve got to renovate.’ We want to renovate every year.”

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

The Twins and the cash-strapped Tampa Bay Rays had plenty of trade conversations throughout the offseason. Saturday evening, all those cell minutes and text messages finally bore fruit. Right-hander Jake Odorizzi, who turns 28 just before Opening Day, will make the short drive from Port Charlotte, Fla., to Fort Myers to join his new team. In exchange for Odorizzi, who...

With only 20 minutes separating the Wild from building a three-point cushion over the Ducks for the final spot in the Western Conference playoff race, they let the lead slip away and ultimately fell 3-2 to on the heels of the longest shootout in franchise history. After 11 rounds and 22 shooters, Ducks winger Nick Ritchie finally beat Devan Dubnyk...

The Gophers men’s hockey team settled for a 1-1 tie with Ohio State on Saturday at 3M Arena at Mariucci but moved within one point of clinching home ice for the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Mat Robson stopped 38 of 39 shots he faced for Minnesota (19-13-2, 10-10-2-1), which is unbeaten in its past four games. After...

Karl-Anthony Towns was the toast of the NBA during his rookie season. The revolutionary big man was the unanimous choice for the league’s Rookie of the Year award after capturing all six Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards during the season. Surely, he was on the path to becoming one of the league’s next great players. These were the...

The matchups for the 2018 Minnesota high school girls hockey state tournament are set. Defending champion Edina earned the top seed in Class 2A, after knocking off defending Class A champ Blake in Friday’s Class 2A, Section 6 title game. Centennial will be the No. 2 seed in its first tournament appearance since 2008, while Hill-Murray, making its sixth straight...

The Gophers suffered another setback Saturday as the team announced guard Amir Coffey will undergo surgery on his right shoulder and miss the remainder of the season. The 6-8 guard already missed 10 games prior to Saturday’s announcement with the right shoulder injury. Coffey originally hurt the shoulder in early January, then re-injured it on a late-game dunk in the...